In recent times, home-scale producers have adapted a slightly different method, one that I came across when I started making kombucha. Essentially, you use one single fermentation vessel and continually remove and replace a portion of the liquid.

So, for a beer, you would ferment out completely, then bottle a portion, up to 75%, and replace with fresh wort. For kombucha, it's more like 50%.

This method does two things:

Firstly, it allows you to have a constant, viable culture perpetually fermenting and available.

Secondly, you can really gain a depth of flavor and a complexity that's not possible with the traditional batch cycle of brewing.

For my first foray into pseudo-solera brewing, I plan on changing my normal 5 gallon batches to 6 gallons. I will then, take the extra gallon and ferment it in a small fermenter, bottling 75% or so of it and replacing with the extra gallon from the next brewday.

I plan on starting things off with some wyeast brett L that I have waiting around. After that I'll probably either add some lacto (not sure if I'll use wild or specific strain) or some brett b dregs that I have bottled up for just this purpose.

After a few cycles of bottling and replacing wort, I might start adding more dregs and, hopefully, more complexity, or take the bug mix in another direction.

I have a bourbon barrel which should be approximately 53 gallons capacity. I started with around half that volume fermented clean in buckets and added that to unfermented wort in the barrel. Once in the barrel I added several strains of Brett along with Lacto and Pedio. I'm sure I've added dregs from some sour/Brett beers as well. I'm not looking for something reproducible so notes haven't been taken.

The grain bill is very lambic-esque. It's mostly pilsner, pale, and wheat. There are also some roasted and crystal malts, but not enough to take it past dirty blonde. It was hopped to around 10 IBUs just because. Lacto is very sensitive to hop oils so I wanted to keep it low. It would have been just as well to have had no hops in the boil.

I tasted it a few times early on because it was a new thing and then buckled down and let it be. The first pull was 5 gallons at around 9 months. It tasted good so I dry hopped it and carbed it in a keg. It was horrible. The carbonation brought out nasty bile flavors. It was hoppy puke. Fast forward 3 months to today. It still has an odd almost meaty finish that is fading. I've been told it may come and go. I'm still looking for a more complete answer on that one.

The traditional method of Solera, usually for Balsamic vinegar, uses several barrels. The pictures I've seen usually show around five or six barrels of decreasing size. The process is started by filling the largest barrel. Whenever it is time a portion is moved to fill the next smaller barrel and the first barrel is topped up. This process continues until the smallest barrel is mature. It continues on as long as desired, moving the smallest barrel volume down the line each time the smallest barrel is ready to bottle.

My two vessel system is the only feasible method for me right now. I may move on to a multiple vessel if I come across come smaller barrels at a steal.

I've been told by a UC Davis grad that it may be mess left over from the Pedio and it will fade, but he wasn't sure and hasn't tasted it. I've also been told by a soon to be pro brewer that has tasted my beer and has run across the same flavor in his lambic that he hasn't found an answer for it, but the flavor seems to come and go.

Maybe, just maybe, when we move into our next house I can reason that I'll need one each of 5, 10, and 20 gallon barrels to "spread the load" to make the 53 gallon portable. The sad part is that another 53 would be way cheaper from one of my local breweries that barrel age.

Maybe, just maybe, when we move into our next house I can reason that I'll need one each of 5, 10, and 20 gallon barrels to "spread the load" to make the 53 gallon portable. The sad part is that another 53 would be way cheaper from one of my local breweries that barrel age.

that's a lot of coin

The only thing between me and a train wreck is blind luck..... - Kenny